Hopper gate



M. C. FORS HOPPER GATE Aug 31, 1948.

Filed Jan. 12, 1944 Patented Aug. 31, 1948 *HO'PPER GATE Manford C'.'Fors, Salinas, Calif. Application? anuary"12, 1944,"SerialfNof51fi929 (Cl. 271- 44) 1 Claim.

This' i-nvention relates 'to' hopper gates, and more particularly to an "improved hoppergate tor use with hoppers adapted to feed wood slats to automatic nailingma'ch-i-nes such-as are used in the manufacture of woo'd boxes andcrates' for shipping freshvegetable "produce-and the like.

Heretoforethe feeding of wood slats from hoppers has resulted in delay and inefliciency in t'he production of boxes =or thelike, caused by the tendency or the slats'to-stick together resulting in more than one slat' being ejected *at a time; also because slats are-of varying thicknesses in a given hopper a plurality may be ejected simultaneously from the stationary hopper gate orbecome dammed in "the -g-ate, thereby preventing the discharge of further slatstherethrough.

=Itlis an object of the present invention to improve hopper gate construction so that only 'one slat may be discharged at a time andwhich prevents'the jamming of the-gate caused by irregularities in" the thicknesses-of the slats ejected.

The problems of handling slats which *vary in thickness are manifest. "For example, slats-are soldin lots as -inch s-lats but they mayv-ary from- 1; of an inch to well over /8'of an inch. Further, the problem J of feeding only "one slat ata time from a' hopperis increased by the tendency of slats to adhere together frictionall'y or because of exuded sap.

The present inventionhas been illustrated with a conventional. hopper adapted. torcontain slats for use in making boxes. "The'rneans for feeding a:-s'latfrom the hopper is illustrated by 3;): pair of fingers or dogs which are'ordinarily carried on a reciprocal carriage mounting a rotatable drum, with the dogs carried eccentrically thereon. The carriage mechanism forms no part'of the-invention. It is noted, however;that the 'GOgS are adaptedto engage a part of a slat and push it :from the hopper to a -pr0per:p'ositionwhere it is nailed-"to the box assembly .by an automatic nailing machine. the hopper at a ver rapid rateand anyijar'nming or feeding of two slats at a time instead of one causes serious loss of time in the manufacture of boxes or the like.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a, hopper gate which is inexpensive to manufacture and assemble and which may be easily attached to a conventional hopper; to provide an automatic, reciprocal hopper gate which prevents more than one slat being fed therefrom at a time; to provide a hopper gate which is variable in adjustment and which is adjustable to handle varying thickness of slat stock; to provide a The dogs feed the slats from .12 lropper gatesvitw an? attachmentr'therefor to slow down the rate of ejection Of the slats 1 from :the hopper and help' to gu lde the slatsto' the :point of proper position thereofin readiness for n'ailln'g o'r other operation. Other objects ofthe invention "will bec'ome apparentupon referring to the following specification "and drawings attached heretoand madeapartihereof.

W'ith' r 'efe'r'ence to the drawings,- in which Tslmilar characters of reference representcorresponding parts: inthe several viewsz Fig. 1 is a 'front; vertical, elevational view of a hopper to which rnyf 'gate is attached.

7 'Fi'g. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the hopper and gate taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

tache-ri tosa hopper.

Thexinvention comprises, essentially, *a verticall'y reciprocal agate, which'is self-adjustablet'o prevent =theteje'ction of more than one sIati-at a time fromi a: hopper; generally: indicated at land whichnompris'es a rectangular co'mpartment,-the front panels- 31"0f which terminate a short of the bottom agui'd'eways i to allow room for; egress of the l slats; generally indicated I at 1 5. The I hopper, as herein describedJis 1 shown as: having an open front,- hutynee'dless to say, such need "not'be the casepnor, for that matter, would the hopper be of such small capacity as that herein illus trated. -When' the front-wall isreferred to -as 3, it is understood as the equivalent 'ofthe front panels-3, as herein illustrated.

The dogs or fingers 6 are illustrated fragmentarily in order to show'how the "slats are engagedthereby and.1pushed from "the hopper through the-gate and-along the bottom guide-- ways -=4 to: a desired position.

-Fixed at'opposite sides' to the-front wall 3 of the hopper are; two ve'rtically reciprocally mount ed-g-ates' 1,. provided-with beveled bottom ends 8, i. e. -beveled in :the i direction of the interior =of the hopperand whichvproject-below the bottom of the front wall r3 adiacent tothe bottom: guideways 4.

As herein illustrated, the gates l are slidably connected to the front wall 3 by means of bolts 9, inserted through slots in formed in the said gates and affixed to the said front wall. The bolts, preferably, are provided with strike nuts ll. Washers I! or the like are provided and are adapted toextend over the edges of the slots H). The top of each gate carries an outwardly projected flange 13 provided with a threaded bore, through which a bolt I4 is inserted, adapted to abut against the head 15 of each upper bolt ll.

It is sometimes judicious to provide a coil spring l6 afiixed to each gate by means of a screw H or by other suitable means and .con-l nected to the bolt 9 in order to provide greater downward pressure that is the case when relying on the weight of the gates alone.- The additional spring i6 is used preferably, for example, when I the hopper is feeding very thin slot material.

I .also prefer to attachguide means, generally indicated at 20, to the front portion of each gate which comprises a hinged tension member 2|, spring biased downwardly by means of a coil spring 22 carried by a support member 23, to which member 2| is pivotally connected. The support member 23 is preferably attached to the lower bolt 9 by any suitable means. The guide means is generally for the purpose'of exerting pressure downwardly against a slat ejected from the hopper to press the slat against theguideways 4 to slow down the speed of ejection of the slat. It also serves to guide the said slat properly toward its point of nailing position while it is being-pushed thereto by means of the dogs or fingers B. I

It is noted that this time that the slats, generally indicated at 5, are of varying thickness as, for example, the thin slat illustrated at 5 and the relatively thicker slat represented at 5*. The vertically adjustable gate is set by means of the limiting bolt l4 so that the bottom thereof is elevated above the guideway 4 in order to contact the smallest slat expected in a'given stock pile, as, for example, slat 5 Hence when two slats stick together and the dog 6 moves the bottommost slat forwardly, the gates are elevated, by-

contact of the forward end of the slat against the beveled portion 8 of the said gate, thereby allowing the bottommost slat to pass under the said gate but no other slat. When two slats are stuck together only the bottom slat will be ejected, in view of the fact that it is fed out by engagement with mechanical feed dogs 6 and forces gates I vertically upwardly, whereas the I slat directly above is carried along until the forward face thereof strikes a gate and it is literally scraped off the lowermost slat to remain in the hopper until the dogs 6 pick it up and force it through the gates. The adjustment of the gates and the downward-pressure exerted bythe gates must be sufiicient to overcome normal frictional and gum adherence of slats. The weight of the gates and spring tension member l6 are'desig'ned to effect this result. The bottom slat may mass underneath the gate in view of the fact that it is being forced therethrough by the finger 6, but, as already mentioned, finger 6 does not contact any other slat and, therefore, the gate effectively restrains the forward movement of a slat stuck thereto by means of frictional or gum adherence.

While I have illustrated and described my invention in more or less detail for purposes of clarity of description and'ex'am'ple, it is understood that modifications, variations and changes I may be made in the structure only as limited by the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

" In combination with a wood slat hopper having flat bottom members and arranged to contain a plurality of Wood slats of varying thicknesses stacked therein and supported by said bottom members, said hopper comprising a front wall terminating short of said bottom members, a hopper gate comprising two; gate members mounted on opposite sides of the front wall of said hopper and arranged-for limited vertical sliding movement relative thereto and relative to one another, each of said gate members, having an identically beveled bottom endyeach said end spaced vertically from said bottom.members a predetermined distance substantially equal to. the thickness of the thinnest slat in said stack, said gate members each having an adjustableqstop means to adjust the predetermined spacing of said bottom ends relative to said bottom members, a slat ejection mechanism to move the 1 bottom slat of said stack of slats forwardly against the beveled ends of said gate members to move said gate members slidably upwardly to permit the ejection of said bottom vslat from said; hopper, spring means to bias the bottom ends. of said gate members downwardly-against the :top of the bottom. slat during the ejectionjof said bottom slat from said hopper to scrape from said bottom slat another slat adhering thereto, guides connected to said front wall, each'said guide comprising a pivotally mounted compression member, and adjustable spring means to urge said com-v pression members downwardly in order to retard the movement of said bottom slat after its 6,180+

tion from said hopper.

. MANFORD C. -FORS.

REFERENCES crran The following references areof record in the file of this patent:

UNITFD STATES PATENTS Date Swift Sept. 27, 1927 

